Fensalden Inn

Top Reasons to Stay at Fensalden Inn

The inn is within an easy drive of wineries, hiking and biking trails along the coast, and whale-watching opportunities. California gray whales migrate south along the Mendocino coast from November to February and return north between February and April.

It’s perched on a 400-foot ridge along the coast, overlooking rolling meadows, stately trees, and the Pacific Ocean.

The property served as a Wells Fargo stagecoach stop in the 1860s, and some of the original redwood buildings have been converted into the inn’s common areas and the Hawthorne suite.

There are large windows with views of the Pacific Ocean in the inn’s suites and private bungalow; each comes with a fireplace and a complimentary bottle of wine. The Bungalow and Tower suite both include a full kitchen.

Your stay includes a gourmet breakfast each morning, served at an antique walnut table. Breakfast includes champagne on Sundays.

Located about three hours north of San Francisco, Northern California’s Mendocino Coast is a region filled with tiny towns, art colonies, and varied terrain. Within a few minutes of one another are sunlit valleys, fertile vineyards, rocky headlands blanketed by fog, and serene forests of old-growth redwoods. The Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens showcase the area’s geographical diversity through its native rhododendrons, prickly succulents, and colorful blooms stretching to the ocean.

Partially because of its scenic land and sea scapes, the coast is popular with painters, who gather in artists' collectives such as the Mendocino Art Center. To see the land that inspires local artwork, head to Russian Gulch, Mendocino Headlands, or any of the region’s coastal state parks. At Mendocino Headlands State Park, waves crash into carving arches, grottos, and stony bluffs, while MacKerricher State Park north of Fort Bragg contains dramatic sand dunes.

Although normally quiet, the region comes alive during a series of whale festivals every March and April, when California gray whales pass by the coast as they migrate from Mexico to Alaska. You'll find one of the best vantage points for whale watching at Point Cabrillo Light Station, a lonely lighthouse first lit in 1909.